Saturday, 31 January 2015

John McCabe Composer, Pianist & Conductor

John McCabe’s (b.1939) Symphony
No.1 ‘Elegy’ was first performed on 4 July 1966 at the Cheltenham Festival by
the Hallé Orchestra with their conductor John Barbirolli. It is a work that I
can hardly believe is not fairly and squarely in the concert and recorded music
repertoire. Yet it would appear to have been largely forgotten over the
succeeding years. The present recording was originally released in 1967 on a
Pye Virtuoso LP (TPLS 13005) coupled with Kenneth Leighton’s fine Concerto for
String Orchestra and Adrian Cruft’s superb (but forgotten) Divertimento for
string orchestra op.43. John Snashall (1930-1994) conducted the London
Philharmonic Orchestra in all three works. McCabe’s Symphony has never appeared
on CD until the present release.

The contemporary reviewer in The Gramophone noted wryly that if the
Symphony’s title suggested ‘mourning’ it was ‘certainly not for the passing of
the orchestral symphony, the British symphony, or the Cheltenham symphony.’ He insisted that this work ‘declares …in
every bar….a continuing life for these things.’ Paul Conway has noted that this
work is not a traditional four movement symphony but suggests it is ‘avowedly
symphonic in language.’ It is in three unequal, but ultimately well balanced
movements.

A number of reviewers seemed to
have some problems with the symphony’s title – ‘Elegy’. None of the three
movements present a particularly tragic mood although it is not in any way ‘light’
music. One critic at The Times
newspaper suggested that it was ‘contemporary music without tears’ and was
‘immediately comprehensible in argument and full of arresting sonorities to
beguile the ear.’ Another reviewer of the work’s premiere considered that it
was ‘all development: no themes.’ He felt that it was discouraging for a young
composer to allow ‘procedures [to] take priority over ideas.’

The first movement is almost like
a slow march. It is entitled ‘Prelude’ which gives the clue to its part in the
symphony’s structure: it serves as an introduction as to what follows. However
two subjects are formally declared and are duly developed. I do not agree with
Paul Conway’s assessment that this movement is ‘tragic, death-haunted (like George
Lloyd’s Seventh Symphony)’. There is certainly a dramatic climax, but the
general tone is reflective and possibly even cool rather than heart-rending.

The second movement is entitled ‘Dance’
and exploits a number of interesting musical devices including boogie-woogie,
jazz and even some contemporary ‘pop’ sounds. Does some of this music nod to
towards Malcolm Arnold – Heaven forfend! There is some ferocity about this
music, yet it is full of positive energy and life. It appears to be almost
kaleidoscopic in its structure. Listeners may feel that this movement could
have been extended a little beyond its brief four minutes.

The third movement ‘Elegy’ is
certainly much more profound and antagonistic than the preceding two. It opens quietly
but with double-forte chordal interruptions. There are beautiful moments
including some fine writing for strings in this movement that are often interrupted
by something a little more sinister.
There is a reprise of the ‘dance music’. The movement ends quietly and
appears to have resolved any residual conflict.
This symphony is, I believe, typically reflective rather than disturbing
or crisis-laden.

Listening to this work after half
a century seems to blow away the contemporary reviewer’s criticisms. Unless I
am totally naïve, this symphony has stood up well over the years. It has the
wonderful ability to sound ‘modern’ whilst at the same time nodding to a
greater musical tradition that includes Sibelius. It is a work that impresses
and moves the listener and holds their attention. It is not a ‘dance of death’
but something more affirmative.

The Symphony No.1 ‘Elegy’ (the
first of seven) was written during 1965 and had been commissioned by the Hallé
Society.

The three piano works are totally
new to me. The ‘Fantasy on a Theme of Liszt’ (1967) is based on a passage drawn
from the Hungarian composer’s ‘Faust’ Symphony. Interestingly, this theme uses
all twelve notes of the chromatic scale. McCabe has cast his Fantasy in sonata
form in spite of the title. Harold
Truscott noted that this work comes as close to being in traditional ‘sonata
form’ as McCabe had come to at that time. It is a complex piece that demands a
hugely virtuosic technique. Tamami Honma has written that this work remains a
‘favourite among pianists and audiences’: I have to admit that I have not heard
it played in the recital room or on radio. The present recording of this work
was issued on the RCA Red Label in 1977 (RL 25076) however this has been
deleted for many years. The liner notes
for the current re-release of this work suggest that it is often Beethoven
rather than Liszt who has inspired its pianism. I was captivated by the sheet
explosive energy of this music. John
McCabe quite naturally gives an inspiring and dramatic performance of this
piece.

Equally interesting are the two piano
studies dating from 1969. They are from a set of four that were designed to
explore various aspects of keyboard writing and techniques of performance. The first
study, a Capriccio, is effectively a toccata movement that is predicated on
rapid repeated notes, an exploration of staccato chords, a wide range of
dynamics with moments of complete repose and even silence. The second study ‘Sostenuto’ has ‘vigorous’
music in the middle section, framed by sustained and reflective sonorities for
the opening and closing material. Honma has noted Debussy as an inspiration behind
this music. In both cases McCabe gives
an impressive and rewarding performance of these two studies. It is just a pity
that the other two in the series ‘Gaudi’ and ‘Aubade’ could not somehow have
been squeezed into the programme: there is only 62 minutes of music on this
disc.

The final work on this CD is Tuning for orchestra which was composed in 1985 It was a commission
by the Carnegie United Kingdom Trust for the National Youth Orchestra of
Scotland to celebrate the 150th Anniversary of the birth of Andrew
Carnegie and also for the European Music Year 1985. It is written for a large orchestra complete
with a battery of percussion. The British premiere was given at the Albert Hall
in Stirling on 6 August 1985. McCabe has written that the work was inspired by
hearing a chamber orchestra tuning up for a performance of Mozart’s Serenade
for 13 wind instruments. He noted that by ‘sheer chance they alighted a couple
of times on rich and sonorous chords.’ It was this that provided the initial
impetus for this work. In some ways Tuning
appears like a ‘concerto for orchestra.’ The composer creates blocks of sound
for woodwind, then percussion and brass. The piece naturally divides into two
sections: a slow-moving opening followed by a rapid toccata making use of
fanfares, repeated notes and patterns. It is only at the end of the work that
the entire orchestra comes together for the concluding chords.

I found this work immediately approachable in spite of the
possible objection that much modern music has been described as sounding like ‘an
orchestra tuning up’.

The liner notes have been written by Robert Matthew-Walker
and the composer (Tuning). They give
a comprehensive account of the all the works. For further information, I
encourage the listener to explore Landscapes
of the Mind: The Music of John McCabe, ed. George Odam (2007). The insert
also includes brief notices of the orchestras, the conductor John Snashall and
the composer.

One point of confusion. The rear
cover of the CD suggests that all these pieces are ‘World Premiere Recordings’.
This is confusing as all the recordings except for Tuning were released on Pye and RCA Red Label LPs. The piano works have also been recorded in
recent years by Tamami Honma (Studies, Metier 92071) and Graham Caskle
(Fantasy, Metier 92004). I concede that the ‘original’ releases of these works
were then (1967 & 1977
respectively) ‘premiere recordings.’ Tuning
was acquired from the original master made at the City Hall, Glasgow concert on
January 4 1986.

This is an excellent new release
from Naxos that should demand the attention of all enthusiasts of British
music. It presents two important works by John McCabe that have so far eluded
release on CD. It is also a pleasure to hear the composer’s own performance of
his piano pieces, his conducting of Tuning
and the excellent Symphony No. 1 ‘Elegy’.

Track Listing:

Symphony No.1 ‘Elegy’ (1965)

Fantasy on a Theme of Liszt (1967)

Capriccio (Study No.1) (1969)

Sostenuto (Study No.2) (1969)

Tuning (1985)

London Philharmonic Orchestra/John Snashall (Symphony)

National Youth Orchestra of Scotland/John McCabe (Tuning)

John McCabe (piano)

NAXOS 8.571370

With thanks to MusicWeb International where this review
was first published.

About Me

I am well over fifty years old: the end of the run of baby boomers! I was born in Glasgow, moving south to York in the late ‘seventies. I now work in London.
My main interest is British Music from the nineteenth century onwards.
I love the ‘arch-typical’ English countryside – and have always wanted to ‘Go West, Boy’.
A. E. Housman and the ‘Georgian’ poets are a huge influence on my aesthetic. I have spent much of my life looking for the ‘Land of Lost Content’ and only occasionally glimpsed it…somewhere in…???
My recently published work includes essays on Ivor Gurney’s song ‘On Wenlock Edge’ for the Gurney Society Journal, The Music of Marion Scott and a study of Janet Hamilton’s songs for the British Music Society Journal, and the composer Muriel Herbert for the Housman Society.
I have contributed to the journals of the Ralph Vaughan Williams Society, the Finzi Society, and the Bliss Society, the Berkeley Society, the BMS Newsletter and regular CD reviews for MusicWeb International.